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The care of a mother embraces her child totally. Mary’s motherhood has its beginning in her motherly care for Christ. In Christ, at the foot of the cross, she accepted John, and in John she accepted all of us totally. Mary embraces us all with special solicitude in the Holy Spirit. For as we profess in our Creed, he is “the giver of life.” It is he who gives the fullness of life, open towards eternity.
Our bodies express our own individual souls. The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that human beings are a unity of body and soul—not just souls temporarily trapped in flesh and bone.
Even though our bodies will separate from our souls at death, through the power of Christ’s resurrection, the bodies of the faithful will one day be raised and glorified, reunited with our souls, incorruptible for all eternity. Our bodies will be without spot or blemish, powerful, and perfect.
Good physical workouts should strengthen the heart. Spiritual workouts should do that too. The Bible talks about “the heart” over a thousand times! But Scripture isn’t talking about the physical organ that pumps blood in our chest. It is referring to our hidden center, the dwelling place where we live. One great way to strengthen our hearts are prayers of thanksgiving and praise.
“Be of good heart.” I love that because it is true. We should be of good heart no matter what happens because we know—or we should know—that we are Mary’s very own children and that she loves us beyond what words can adequately describe. We have, not only the right, but the obligation to call out to her when we are in trouble. Like all good mothers, her ears are tuned to the voices of her children. She knows each one individually and is constantly listening.
In the book of Revelation, we find a powerful image of the Lord who knocks on the door of our hearts, and waits to be welcomed inside: “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20).
Jesus knocks at the door of our hearts and eagerly desires to dine with us at the sacrificial meal we call the Eucharist. He wishes to find us ready to receive him, to sit down and eat with him, in the upper rooms of our lives.
Each of us longs for harmony. We feel it deep within us, the instinct to live free of shame, naked and vulnerable before our God and the world. We long to know ourselves fully and not be afraid of who and what we are. It is the map back to Eden imprinted on our souls and desired by our flesh. We long to know what it meant to be woman when we were Eve—to have that relationship with God, with man, with ourselves. Eden’s blessing calls us, and we spend our lives, if we are pursuing God earnestly, trying to unravel what it means to be Eve, to live naked and unashamed before him.
When God sees woman, what he sees is not simply spirit, but her physical body, itself a reflection of him. In the physical existence of woman, God’s longing for a relationship with the created world and his desire for the good of humanity are met, and he is able to rest. Woman becomes gift not just to the world, but also to God himself, who finds his last longing fulfilled and rests in his satisfaction.
